How high can Dalton Kincaid rise? A look at the top NFL draft prospects from around Utah.

Dalton Kincaid’s rise has been impressive.

After transferring to the University of Utah from FCS San Diego, the tight end had all of one catch during the COVID-shortened 2020 season.

On Thursday, he is very likely to be the first player from Utah to be selected in this year’s NFL draft.

Who else will follow?

Here’s a look at the top prospects from around the state.

Potential Day 1 picks

Dalton Kincaid, Utah, Tight end

After that one-reception season, Kincaid turned into one of the nation’s elite pass-catching tight ends, especially as a fifth-year senior in 2022 when he caught 70 passes for 890 yards and eight touchdowns.

“I don’t know if I’m the captain of the fan club, but I know I’m in the running,” NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah told reporters recently. “I think he is a special, special talent.”

Kincaid likely would have surpassed 1,000 receiving yards had it not been for a late-season back injury, which limited him in the Pac-12 championship game and cost him the Rose Bowl a month later. For his career, Kincaid caught 107 passes for 1,414 yards and 16 touchdowns in 31 games for Utah.

“He had the back, so he couldn’t work out in the spring,” Jeremiah said. “I think if he had been able to work out, I think he would have cemented himself as a top-15 pick.”

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder when it comes to tight ends. Some are better pass catchers, some are better blockers; only the best of the bunch can do both at a high level. Kincaid has emerged as the likely first tight end of the board on Thursday night, not because he is a top-tier blocker, but because he can catch the ball, he can line up in the slot, he can win 50-50 balls more times than not, and he can stretch the field as a big target.

“He is a stud. He is awesome,” Jeremiah said. “Off the line, he is awesome at the top of his routes. He can separate. He has great hands. He is competitive after the catch. He can make you miss. I think he is one of the best players in the draft, and everything I was told physically from teams, he came out of that fine. Teams are comfortable with him medically. I don’t envision him dropping for that reason at all. I think he is an elite player, one of the best in the draft.”

Kincaid will be the sixth-ever Utes tight end to be selected in the NFL Draft, but the first since 1996 (Henry Lusk) and the highest since Kurt Haws was taken early in the fourth round in 1994.

Projection: Mid-to-late first round

Potential Day 2 picks (rounds 2-3)

Blake Freeland, BYU, Offensive line

Depending on where you look and who you ask, Freeland could be a potential second-round pick or a third- to fifth-round selection. A lot of that has to do with his relative inexperience. Even though he was a four-year starter on BYU’s offensive line, playing in 44 games and making 41 starts, he only picked up the position in college after moonlighting as a quarterback in high school. Compared with other top guys in his class — like Georgia’s Broderick Jones and Ohio State’s Paris Johnson Jr. — he still has a ways to go to polish his game.

That said, Freeland’s size and freakish athleticism should make teams willing to draft him, and potentially draft him early. He is 6-foot-8 and ran a 4.98 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine. That is easily the best at his position. For his size, he still moves like a basketball player. It’s mostly because Freeland was a basketball player — a two-time varsity captain at Herriman High School. He was all-state in 2018. He also broke the state record for javelin. Freeland is an athlete and teams like to draft high-ceiling athletes even if they are raw.

Freeland is young still. He never served a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints mission and was immediately inserted into the lineup out of high school. Scouts have mentioned Freeland will probably grow into his body and put on weight. Right now, he is listed at 305 pounds, one of the lighter guys in this class. But if he can put on more weight on a 6-foot-8 frame, it would be very enticing for NFL teams.

Projection: Second-round to potentially fifth-round pick

Clark Phillips III, Utah, Cornerback

The plan for Phillips III was always to spend three years in college before declaring for the NFL draft. He just had to play well enough to bring that plan to fruition.

The highest-rated recruit in Utah history, per the 247sports composite, did just that, registering nine career interceptions in 31 games (all starts), including a program-record-tying four returned for touchdowns. As a third-year sophomore in 2022, Phillips III was a unanimous All-America selection thanks in large part to six interceptions. Three of those six picks came on Oct. 1 against Oregon State, including a first-quarter interception return for a touchdown.

With his draft declaration in 2023 assumed, Phillips III spent most of the 2022 season being projected as a first-round pick, but that optimism has waned thanks to his size (he measured officially at 5-foot-9, 184) and a Combine performance that was viewed as middle-of-the-road. Still, for whatever strikes there are against him because of his size, his high football IQ, his desire to get better, and his famously being a student of the game are all positives.

Phillips III will not be a first-round pick, but he is unlikely to drop past Friday night.

“He is going to be a nickel,” Jeremiah said. “He’s undersized, but he has incredible ball production and toughness and quickness. I think he would struggle holding up outside consistently, but he is somebody I think you’re probably going to see him in that third-round range when he starts coming into the conversation. But a really, really good nickel.”

Projection: Late-second round to mid-third round

Potential Day 3 picks (rounds 4-7)

Jaren Hall, BYU, Quarterback

Hall isn’t a top-tier quarterback in this draft class. He doesn’t have the accomplishments or accolades of a Bryce Young from Alabama. And he doesn’t have the standout athleticism or measurables of an Anthony Richardson out of Florida or Will Levis out of Kentucky.

But Hall does fit in nicely with the middle-tier of quarterbacks coming out, along with Stanford’s Tanner McKee and Fresno State’s Jake Haener. With Hall, teams know what they are getting: a mature quarterback who takes care of the ball with smooth efficiency. And even if he isn’t an elite athlete by Richardson’s standards, he is still an above-average runner who can extend plays when needed. It is evident when watching him that Hall was a three-sport athlete at one point — playing basketball and baseball in high school.

Hall carries an impressive resume. He was a two-year starter at BYU and took over the mantle from Zach Wilson seamlessly. He threw 52 touchdowns to just 11 interceptions and added nine more scores on the ground. Eight of his 18 wins came against Power Five teams, more than Wilson. Perhaps most underrated, Hall was at the helm last year when BYU was having one of its toughest stretches in recent memory. On the brink of bowl elimination, Hall led the team to four wins down the stretch to give the program some momentum going into the Big 12.

Hall’s size and injury history will be obvious factors hurting his stock. He is listed at 6-foot-1, the same as Young. He also has been knocked out of games with concussions and ankle injuries. He missed the final five games of the 2019 season after a concussion. He redshirted the 2020 season after a hip injury. And he missed a handful of games the last two years for a variety of reasons. Still, Hall doesn’t think it is an issue now.

“I think I have shown over the years that I got healthy every year,” Hall said at BYU’s Pro Day. “Last year I missed one game and that is the fewest I’ve had since I have started. I feel like I am older, but every year I get a little healthier.”

His age will also be talked about as a 25-year-old rookie quarterback. Hall served a two-year Church mission in California before enrolling at BYU. But Cougars offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick doesn’t think that will be a major factor. Roderick estimates he has talked to every NFL team about Hall twice, and some three times.

“It is super overblown because quarterbacks can play into their late 30s,” Roderick said. “A lot of the guys don’t figure it out until they are late 20s. You see guys all the time struggle for a couple of years, bounce around, and all of a sudden then they get it. Or then they find the right situation. I think the age thing is overblown at the quarterback position.”

Projection: Fifth-round or sixth-round pick

Puka Nacua, BYU, Wide Receiver

Nacua was everything to BYU’s offense last year. He caught passes in the slot, out wide and in the screen game. He carried the ball out of the backfield and occasionally lined up at tight end. Roderick mentioned Nacua is the only player in his memory who could play anywhere on the field.

His production didn’t always translate to big numbers on the season, where he finished with 625 yards and five receiving touchdowns in 2022. Some of that was due to missing games with injury. But when Nacua was fully healthy, he routinely took over games. Against Boise State on the road last year, Nacua accounted for 157 yards, two touchdowns and the game-winning catch with under a minute to play.

Nacua comes from a football family. His brother, Samson, played at BYU and Utah before latching on with the Indianapolis Colts in training camp last year. Kai Nacua also played at BYU and is currently in the NFL as a safety. Puka Nacua, though, was the highest-rated amongst his brothers growing up. He was the 2018 Gatorade Player of the Year at Orem High School. He went to Washington before transferring to BYU for the last two seasons.

Nacua, like Hall, will have to answer for his injury history. He missed four games last year with an ankle injury. A hamstring kept him out of the bowl game, although that might have been more precautionary than anything.

“Staying healthy,” Nacua said of what teams still wanted to talk to him about. “I’m trying to get bigger for the physical game that we play. But also staying as fast and as explosive as you can.”

Projection: Sixth to seventh-round pick

Braeden Daniels, Utah, Offensive line

When Daniels showed up at Utah in 2018 as a three-star offensive lineman, it was by no means a lock that he would wind up in the NFL. He took a redshirt for that 2018 season, but it didn’t take long after that for Daniels to make an impact.

Daniels played in 49 career games, starting in 43 of them across three different positions: 18 at left guard, 14 at left tackle, and 11 at right tackle. It was at left tackle where Daniels made his greatest impact, making that move ahead of the 2022 season following the graduation of another standout lineman, Bam Olaseni. Daniels started all 14 games in 2022, earning first-team All-Pac-12 honors after helping Utah rush for 217.6 yards per game, good for No. 2 in the Pac-12 and No. 11 nationally.

There has been some debate as to whether Daniels’ NFL future is at guard or tackle, but the good news is he has experience at both, and performed well enough at the Combine that some team will surely take a chance on him on Day 3.

Projection: Possibly late in the fourth round, but fifth round is more likely

Mohamoud Diabate, Utah, Linebacker

Diabate’s 13.5 tackles for a loss, 58 total tackles, and six sacks at Utah in 2022, plus a productive 37-game career before that at Florida, made Diabate seem like a safe bet to get a Combine invite, but that was not the case.

Instead, Diabate was one of the bigger Power Five Combine snubs. He wound up playing in and performing well at the East-West Shrine Classic in February, kickstarting what has been a strong pre-draft process.

Projection: All over the place, from early in the fifth round, to undrafted. If Diabate indeed goes undrafted, he will be a priority free agent.

Kaleb Hayes, BYU, Cornerback

Hayes has the potential to be a late riser in this draft, or sneak into camp somewhere because of what he did at BYU’s Pro Day. Everyone knew Hayes was a good athlete, but he ran a 4.31 40-yard dash and jumped a 40-inch vertical. Those numbers are elite and immediately force teams to give you a look.

Hayes wasn’t invited to the NFL Combine, but has solid film if teams are trying to dive in. He is a sixth-year senior who transferred to BYU from Oregon State in 2021. The last two years, he has led the Cougars in passes defended.

Of course, there was a reason he wasn’t on NFL radars before this. But teams could see upside in his athleticism and want to take a flyer.

Projection: Undrafted free agent